338
THE BRITISH EMPIRE : — WESTERN AUSTRALIA
miles. According to the latest computations, the total estimated area of the State is 975,920 English square miles, or, 624,588,800 acres. It is divided into 38 magisterial districts.
Western Australia was first settled in 1829, and for many years the population was small.
The enumerated population in the various census years was as follows : —
Years
Males
Females
Total
1854
7,778
3,965
11,743
1859
9,522
5,315
14,837
1870
15,375
9,410
24,785
1881
17,062
12,646
29,708
1891
29,807
19,975
49,782
1901
112,875
71,249
184,124
1911
161,565
120,549
282,114
There were in 1911, enumerated 6,369 pure and 1,475 half-caste aborigines (not included in the table). Of the total population in 1911, 104,208 were returned as born in Western Australia. The number of married persons was' 96,482 (50,702 males and 45,780 females); Avidowers, 4,180; widows, 5,785; divorced, 187 males and 103 females ; unmarried, 106,060 males and 68,807 females. The number of males under 21 was 58,838, and of females 56,203. Of the males over 21, 58,737 had never been married, and of the females over 21, 55,198. The estimated population in December, 1912 (excluding full-blooded aboriginals) was: males, 174,098; females, 131,446; Total, 305,544.
The Municipality of Perth, the capital, at the time of the 1911 census, had a population of 35,767 ; that of Fremantle, 14,499. The principal towns, with census population of 1911, are : —
Towns
1911
106,792
8,781
10,824
1909
Towns 1911
1909
Perth, Fremantle and
suburbs . Kalgoorlie . Boulder
73,700
6,954
11,156
Albany. . 1 3,586 Bunbury . | 3,763 Geraldton . 3,478 Northam . 3,361
3,029 3,560 3,300 2,942
The movement of population in 5 years is given as follows : —
Years
Marriages
Births Deaths
Immigrants
Emigrants
1908 1909 1910 1911 1912
2,012
1,998 2,107 2,421 2,536
7,754 2,882 7,601 2,706 7,585 2,744 8,095 2,924 8,611 3,362
24,401
24,808 31,208 41,200 38,088
21,234 23,783 24,553 28,735 31,926
In 1907 there were 300, in 1908, 837, in 1909, 346, in 1910, 313, and in 1911, 363 illegitimate births.
